


Young God

by Nupitrr



Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Self Harm, Suicide
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-03
Packaged: 2018-05-09 17:20:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5548880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nupitrr/pseuds/Nupitrr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Down on the train tracks, where it should have ended, something began</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Galaxy In Your Eyes

He’d come out to the tracks to relax. It was the only place he knew that was within walking distance that would clear his mind. He felt foggy, and being inside was stifling. Being alone with nature was the cure he relied on. But he wasn't alone.

A boy, sitting in the tracks in front of the stream. He was facing away from him with a bottle laying on its side next to him. His body slumped down after a moment, dropping against the ground unceremoniously as he laughed softly. Even from a distance he was mesmerized by the way his blue eyes, however dead they looked, seemed to contain the galaxy within them.

“I feel so heavy.” He moaned, curling up on his side. The dark hoodie he wore was covered in dirt, and his hair was full of twigs and leaves. He reached for the bottle and wrapped his fingers around it, cradled the glass maternally. “I'll be real light soon, so it don't matter now.” His voice held a thick slur of alcohol. To numb him. To ease him. He knew it too well.

The nausea that filled him almost knocked him off his feet. Cold fear set his body alight. What the fuck do you do in this situation? His feet were moving. Maybe they knew what to do even I've was completely unaware. Then he was on the tracks. Standing over the boy who nursed what he could make out to be Jack, half empty now.

He could've been too drunk to notice, or maybe he just didn't care to acknowledge the presence. He didn't struggle when he was lifted with a grunt from the track but merely clutched the Jack close to his chest. He laid like a dead weight, barely breathing as they walked into the small meadow nearby. And he laid motionless in the grass once he was put down.

He sat in the grass next to him and stared at the sky. They were there in silence that seemed indefinite. Neither had an idea of what to say.

“Isn't the sky fucking great tonight?” The starry eyed boy rolled over, lips pressed to the mouth of the bottle. He stared blankly at him. Maybe he’s just roll back over. Maybe he’d get up and walk back to the tracks, continue with what he’d come to finish. Instead he laughed, that same charming drunken laugh from earlier.

“I’d say so. Always been big on stars ‘n stuff like that.” Finally, _finally_ , he was responding. The bottle was in his hand still but he didn't drink. The boy spared him a glance, curiously amused.

“‘m Dante. You are?” Another laugh, laced with poison.

“Doesn't matter, ‘cause I'm gonna be dead soon. Shoulda been dead a long time ago.” as he spoke, he rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie. The left arm was covered in horizontal scars, the right had long vertical marks. One had stitches in it still. Recent. No more than a few weeks before.

“Over my dead body.”

“That can be arranged.” He bit, something sad hidden beneath the malice in his tone.

“Well ya gotta be alive for now to watch the stars. You can be dead later.” The boy nodded slowly, not taking his eyes off the sky. His eyes followed the clouds that would briefly obscure the bands of stars and sliver of soft moonlight. He raised his arm, the one with the vertical scars and the liquor, and gave the bottle to Dante as a peace offering.

“Name’s Nero. I expect you to be at my funeral now. You and my sister will be the only ones there anyway.” He didn't hesitate to knock back the bottle and take several long, burning gulps. Bitter to match Nero's tone, his attitude. Dante sat back and laughed loud enough to scare off a nearby bird.

“You sure seem hellbent on this ‘I'm gonna die’ idea.” He mused. Dante sat the bottle in the grass and ran a hand through his hair. The air was cooler than he expected. Nero curled in upon himself, but he didn't roll his sleeves down. Something in him churned every time he stared at the marks. They seemed out of place on him. All he wanted was some sort of eraser so he could take them away, free him of that burden.

“You come here often.” It was a statement, and Dante agreed without a second thought. They sat in silence again, Nero's fingers running along the grass, Dante's in his lap to resist running through Nero's hair. One of them began to hum something without a name, and a fog settled over everything.

“Fourteen.” Dante looked down, watching Nero's stoic face as he braided some of the longer grass together. It wasn't his age, he knew that much. He swallowed through the painful dryness in his mouth and spoke.

“Three.” There was a startlingly fast motion, and Nero was sitting up, staring at him with confusion and Another emotion he couldn't name in his eyes. He wasn't sure if it was the alcohol driving him, but he wrapped his arms around Dante's torso and buried his face in his chest. Warm. Secure. Real. Certain.

“Fuck...I'm sorry…” He mumbled, feeling the numbness that had kept him laying down consume him again. He felt Dante's chest heave with laughter as he leaned back on his elbows.

“Where do I even begin on how ironic that is.” He sighed, then all at once the light hearted tone melted. “I've gotten really good at hiding my problems. Growing up conditioned to keep outta the way and to yourself, it makes it easy.” The wind whips by them, and Nero grips him harder. Fingernails dig into his back. He caves. His hair is fucking soft, and he focuses on picking out the leaves from before that he’d neglected to deal with.

They stayed like that. Neither was concerned about the passage of time. At one point, the horizon began to grow brighter. The whistle of a train sounded behind them, and they turned to watch. Dante sighed, gripped Nero's arm until the train was far into the distance.

“We should probably head back now.” Nero tilted his head back to look him in the eye. Those blue eyes caught the little bit of light with the slight tears that had formed at the corners.

“Where is this ‘we' heading back to?”

“My place. Figured you don't wanna go back to wherever you came from.” He sighed, stared at the treeline that met the train tracks. “Plus to be honest I don't trust you to get home safe. Besides I live five minutes away. Brother wouldn't mind, and we got pizza.”

Nero laughed but nodded, releasing his grip on Dante's body as he stretched.

“Is that how you get girls to come over? Seduce them with pizza?”

“Probably if girls talked to me, yeah.” He slowly rose to his feet and help Nero up. They walked, shoulder to shoulder, back down the clearing between the trees where Dante had come from hours ago. Nero stared at their feet, tried to hide the tears that ran down his face silently.

Another dawn was coming, and he was still part of this world.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't...I don't know what this is. I wrote it in an hour. It's 3 am right now and I don't know where this came from. I was supposed to be finishing the second chapter of Honey and this happened instead.
> 
> I don't know how I'll continue this, but I will. Feel free to comment some ideas cuz I'm not quite sure right now


	2. Fire and Ice

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't mean to finish this so fast, but I wanted to get this idea out before it went away

They were both barefoot before they made it anywhere near Dante's house. Nero had commented on how soft the grass seemed and took his shoes off without a thought. Good idea. Moments later he had his own sneakers in his hands, and they were both laughing at the feel in of wet grass between their toes and the quiet puns they were exchanging.

The back door was just as unlocked as he left it. Not that he was expecting anything else. Vergil had gone to sleep hours ago, and even if he wasn't he wouldn't care less about the doors being locked. They drop their shoes by the door and shuffle through the kitchen for ten minutes, muffling their voices and giggles as they grabbed food from the cupboards. Dante took the entire box of pizza while Nero fixed himself a bowl of cereal.

“I can't believe you eat fucking fridge cold pizza.” Nero chided as they walked up the stairs. His words were a jumble of cereal and whispers that made Dante burst into laughter as he kicked his bedroom door open.

“I can't believe you _don't_." He sassed back, tossing the box on his bed. He walked towards his stereo and plugged his phone in, fiddled with a few apps, and had some music playing. He looked back to find Nero nodding his head absently. They sat on his bed, Nero instantly entwining himself with the blankets as he ate while Dante would randomly belt out lyrics he knew, even after Nero reminded him what time it was.

Before he knew it, Nero was talking. He wasn't saying anything groundbreaking, but holy fuck he was way easier to crack than he’d expected. It only took thirty minutes to figure out that they went to different schools--they were both seniors though--- he was a photographer, and he was probably failing every class but photography, to which Dante agreed. He had a sister a few years older than he was, Kyrie, who acted as his legal guardian. Credo was their older brother--”he's a cop, managed to follow what he wanted from when he was seven.”-- but he’d moved out a few years ago.

Dante was content with listening to Nero talk about old stories with his family, odd adventures he had while chasing the perfect picture, and generally anything he thought of. He loved the sound of Nero's voice and how expressive his face was, how much his eyes told even when his words didn't. At one point they were talking about soap, and neither one knew how they’d gotten to the topic. 

Then again, neither of them cared.

It was close to seven when Nero finally yawned for the first time, head leaning so far back that his hood fell off his hair. The idea of running his hands through his hair again made him shiver. This kid was something special, he could feel it.

“Hey you think I can grab a quick shower?” Nero asked, unfolding his legs from beneath himself. He watched as Nero flexed his toes experimentally a and grimaced, no doubt realising his feet were asleep. Dante glanced at the window, admiring the pastel colors of the sky through the slats in his blinds.

"Yeah lemme go grab you a towel.” He was out and back before Nero could think to reply. He tossed the towel towards him and got to work finding some clothes to fit him. They were probably about the same size, so it shouldn't be too bad.

As he turned back, he saw Nero pull his shirt over his head. His instinct was to stare, study his body, admire the pale skin. There were scars towards the waistband of his underwear, and when he stretched his arms up his ribs jutted out. But what struck him odd was his tattoo.

As large set of wings on his right side stretching from the lower half of his ribcage to miss hipbone. The rightmost wing was grey, covered in blood and what he assumed to be purplish bruises. The second wing was white, extended proudly in the way the first was not. It wasn't a new tattoo either. The ink was slightly faded in certain places. His eyebrows raised in surprise and curiosity.

“You alright?” Dante blinked a few times, pulling himself from his musing. A quick nod, and any concern was seemingly out the window. Nero glanced down at his chest and made a silent “oh” with his mouth before accepting the clothes Dante had for him. Their hands brushed, and the both jumped.

“Christ you're freezing!”

“Have you always been that warm?” 

Their words blurred together as they spoke at one, staring at each other in shock. They were silent then all at once they began laughing.

“Well aren't we just polar opposites? Fire and ice.” Dante quipped, rubbing a hand against Nero's bicep. His shoulders visibly tensed from the contact. The unfamiliar warmth. The affection from another.

“I'm anemic. I don't know your excuse. Probably all the sin in your soul burning hot.” His laugh was loud and vibrant, and it filled Nero with a comfortable feeling. That was a good laugh.

“You have a good laugh.” He mused, and all at once he realized that was out loud. Dante stared at him for a moment before laughing again, turning to open the door that lead to his bathroom.

“Alright, whatever you say Captain Anemia.” He teased, flicking on a light and gesturing to the shower. Nero chuckled and walked forward.

“Clever clever.” He purred, and with that he closed the door. The sound of water running commenced, and Dante sat back on his bed with a grunt.

Everything just felt so natural about this. As if Nero should've been here long ago, sitting up with him and singing along as Dante strummed chords on his guitar. Laying back and staring at nothing, talking about nothing, doing nothing. Barely existing in the human world. Existing in their own space, their own time. It felt right.

When Nero got out, he suggested a nap of sorts.

“I was gonna say we should go to bed, but it's already light outside so maybe we just nap for a bit.” He ran a towel over his hair briefly. Sounds good. He didn't need an invitation to sleep; that was half of his life. He shrugged out of his shirt and curled up in one pillow with an arm tossed over his pillow, the blankets halfway on his body. Nero ended up on the other pillow, engulfed in the blankets and his hoodie as he clutched the pillow for dear life. At some point, one of Dante's legs wrapped itself At one Nero's. They were both conscious for it, and neither of them moved away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Definitely enjoying this so far, got a couple ideas plotted out, but feel free to comment some ideas still!


	3. New Contact

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I swear I will get into a consistent update schedule one day. I still don't know where I'm going with this fic.

Every time he got drunk he was reminded what a bitch hangovers were, yet every time they caught him off guard. The bands of sunlight that crept through Dante's window weren't helping the splitting headache that he had. Nero sat up with a grunt of effort only to flop back down in defeat.

 

It wasn't worth sitting up yet. Plus Dante was warm and wrapped halfway around his body so he saw no immediate benefit of moving. Nero buried his face in his pillowed with a grunt, doing his best to block out the sunlight. He didn’t stir again until Dante woke with an over exaggerated yawn, stretching his arms out above him.

 

“Morning sleepyhead.” Nero muttered, voice muffled by the pillow. Dante almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of another voice in his room. When Nero sat up, pushing the pillow aside, he saw Dante clutching at his chest, wide-eyed but grinning.

 

“I fucking forgot you were here.” he breathed. Nero chuckled as he sat up to roll his shoulders. In the silence between them, the sound of a phone buzzing filled the room. Dante flipped his phone over to check before shaking his head, so Nero jumped out of bed to find his jeans. Sure enough, in the back pocket his phone was vibrating over and over. He unlocked the screen to see who it was. 

 

_13 missed calls from: Big Sis_

_26 new texts from: Big Sis_

_3 new voicemails from: Big sis_

 

Nero swore and opened his messages. Most of them were similar in content; Kyrie texting him in a frenzy trying to figure out where he was, if he was okay, and urging him to get back to her as soon as he could. The last one felt resigned, as if she knew why he was gone and was accepting it.

 

_Nero, if I’m too late, I love you so much and I’ll miss you. You deserved better than what you got._

 

He could feel his throat tighten at the thought of his sister, puffy-eyed and shaking, desperately trying to find her little brother before it was too late. She thought he was dead.

 

She was supposed to be right.

 

Instead, he was sitting on the floor of some guy’s room, unscathed and full of guilt. Nero quickly texted her back to say that he was fine. Almost instantly the replies began to pour in.

_  
NERO_

_NERO OH MY GOODNESS_

_YOU’RE OK YOU’RE ALRIGHT_

_I’M GONNA HUG YOU THEN PUNCH YOU FOR MAKING ME WORRY LIKE THAT_

_WHERE ARE YOU?_

 

He couldn’t help but laugh at her relief mixed with anger. She cared, someone cared. Nero turned back to the bed to see Dante throwing on a shirt and his sneakers, the jingle of keys in his pocket as he moved.

 

“Where are you off to? And what’s your address so my sister knows where I am?” 

 

“We are off to Denny’s because I’m hungry and got paid two days ago. Tell your sister to meet us there.” Dante snatched a beanie from his nightstand and walked out the door. Nero felt his stomach growl with the mention of food. Denny’s wasn’t the best, but he was hungry and Dante was paying. Nero texted his sister before changing back into his clothes from the day before and following Dante downstairs.

 

 

 

 

They had already ordered drinks--a black coffee for Dante and a soda for Nero--when Kyrie practically ran over to their booth. Ner was barely on his feet when she had him in her arms, face in his hair, squeezing him painfully tight. He could feel her breathing, uneven with a mix of effort and suppressed tears.

 

“Oh my god _Nero_ , I...thank you for being okay!” Her voice was muffled by his hair. Nero clutched the back of her shirt, tears welling in his eyes as she held him to her chest. He tried in vain to blink the tears away before they fell, feeling them clot in his eyelashes and blur his vision further. 

 

They were embracing for what felt like hours, words of concern dying on Kyrie’s lips and apologies going unspoken from Nero. There was no need for either; the tears from the both of them relayed any emotion that needed to be expressed. Dante watched with a sad smile, chest heaving with a sigh. All he could think of was that boy he met last night with the stars in his eyes and scars on his arms. How eager he was to become stardust once again, ready to throw caution to the wind. He wondered if that boy knew just how much he would’ve been missed.

 

Rubbing at his red-rimmed eyes, Nero led his sister over to their booth. Kyrie sat down across from him before taking a napkin and blotting at her puffy eyes. There were bags beneath her eyes; they could tell she hadn’t slept at all last night. She ordered an iced coffee absently as the waitress came back.

 

“Thank you...Dante, was it? I had gone out to the store to get a few things and when I came back he wasn’t home. He has an appointment with a new therapist on Thursday, I was hoping she could help him out because I’ve noticed his depression getting worse recently.” she turned towards him with a fake sneer, “yeah, I notice you you big doof.”

 

“No need to thank me, I’m just a guy who likes taking late night walks.” Dante dismissed. Kyrie’s slight frown gave way to a smile. Nero couldn’t help but smile in response. Kyrie’s smiles had always had that infectious quality to them. 

 

“I will never not thank you Dante. You...I don’t know what I would be doing right now if it weren’t for you,” she thanked, taking a sip of her coffee as it arrived. They all ordered waffles because, as Dante put it, “they’re superior to pancakes and if anyone here orders pancakes I’ll stab them with a fork, especially since I’m paying.”

 

They were halfway through their food, Nero tearing into another waffle while Dante stuffed his face with greasy bacon, when Kyrie spoke up again.

 

“Credo texted me back.” Nero’s fork stopped midair and he looked up at his sister. Neither of them had spoken to Credo in months. He did his best, but hwas busy with his own family and work.

 

“He’s coming to town this weekend. He wants to see you, make sure you’re okay.” Kyrie was smiling again.

 

“Nice of him to finally give a fuck.” The look she gave Nero could have killed someone. He swallowed hard, realizing just how harsh that sounded.

 

“He’s trying Nero and you _know_ it.” Nero pouted, putting food in his mouth so he wouldn’t say anything back.

 

“I have missed him I guess.” he muttered through a mouthful of food. Kyrie’s smile was a satisfied one. The rest of their meal went by in silence that was only interrupted by Dante throwing out a joke or two.

 

When Kyrie stood, Nero did too. Dante tossed his credit card down on the table and stumbled to his feet. He smacked his knee against the table and swore, getting Nero and Kyrie’s attention as they moved towards the door. 

 

“Dude, you can’t leave without giving me your number!” he blurted out, cradling his knee in one hand. He didn’t wanna lose Nero, not when he’d just found him. Dante felt like he’d met an old friend after years of being apart. Nero quirked an eyebrow at him, an amused smile on his lips. It was such a good look on him.

 

“Fuck,” he ignored the look his sister gave him, “ I thought we did that already.” He snatched Dante’s phone from his hands. Nero tapped a few buttons and made a face at the screen as he put in his number. Dante looked down at the new contact, noting the horrible selfie Nero had put in as his profile picture. When Dante looked up again, Nero was out the door with Kyrie leading the way to her car.

 

Dante’s shoulders sagged some as he walked back to the table, where a receipt waited for him beneath his card. He shoved it back in his wallet before walking out the door, zipping his hoodie against the cool wind. He pulled out his phone as he walked towards his truck. Dante hopped in the front seat and started the car before sending a text to his new contact.

 

_13:18 Me: you owe me dude those waffles were expensive_

_13:18 Captain Anemia: u said u were paying, I don’t owe you shit_

 

Dante grinned down at his screen before turning it off and putting his car in drive.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know how I'll continue this, but I will. Feel free to comment some ideas cuz I'm not quite sure right now


End file.
